WASHINGTON, DC – Former President Donald Trump continues to brag about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, while downplaying the threat of conservatives passing a national abortion ban and further restricting access to all types of reproductive health care, including IVF treatment and birth control. Despite their rhetoric, anti-abortion extremists like Donald Trump and JD Vance have made it painfully clear that they will stop at nothing to restrict our freedom to make decisions about our lives and families. 

Patient storytellers, health care providers, and advocates from across the country released statements to set the record straight about what life is like for women and families in post-Roe America, and what’s at stake as extremists work to roll back our rights even further. 

“When anti-abortion extremists like Donald Trump say they want to ‘leave abortion up to the states,’ what they really mean is that they want millions of people across the country to be denied access to health care,” said Samantha Casiano, a Texas-based mother of four who was forced to give birth to her daughter, Halo, in 2023, despite knowing that she would survive just a few hours due to a congenital defect. Casiano joined a group of women suing the state as a plaintiff in Zurawski v. Texas, though their challenge was recently rejected by the state’s Supreme Court in a devastating blow to patients across Texas. “We know what happens when abortion is ‘left up to the states –’ families like mine endure unimaginable cruelty.” 

“I made the difficult, but loving decision to terminate a wanted pregnancy when my baby was diagnosed with severe microcephaly at 24-weeks. Every new attack on access to abortion and reproductive health care feels like a stinging indictment of my choice as an experienced OB-GYN and as a devoted parent,” said Dr. Anna Igler, an OB-GYN based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. “The opportunity to continue growing our family through IVF treatment has helped my husband and I grieve the loss of our daughter and move forward, but ongoing attacks on all types of reproductive health care mean we can never truly rest easy. I won’t let extremists like Donald Trump off the hook for what they’ve done to families like ours.”

“Anti-abortion extremists like Donald Trump have made my job as a physician more difficult and extremely dangerous,” said Dr. Callie Cox Bauer, an OBGYN from Milwaukee. “There is no room for politicians in the exam room, and when doctors with years of medical training and expertise are sidelined by lawmakers, patients suffer. We have no reason to believe Trump when he says he won’t roll back access to abortion and reproductive health care even further, and we have every reason to fear what his party has planned next.” 

“Trump and anti-abortion extremists know that they’re out of step with the majority of Americans who support protecting access to abortion and reproductive health care, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop looking for new and cruel ways to attack our rights,” said Kat Duesterhaus, the founder of Bans Off Miami and the Legislative Director of the Florida State Chapter of the National Organization for Women. “We have to be honest about what is at stake for people in Florida and across the country right now. Attacks on access to abortion and all types of reproductive health care, including birth control and IVF treatment, will continue to escalate and lives are at stake.” 

“Louisiana’s abortion ban left me feeling dehumanized and stripped of my basic rights when I needed abortion care,” said Nancy Davis, a mom from Baton Rouge, Louisiana who was forced to travel nearly 1,500 miles to receive care in New York, when she learned that the baby she was pregnant with had acrania, a rare, but fatal condition. “I won’t let extremist lawmakers ignore what happened to me, or pretend like these laws don’t devastate families like mine.” Following her experience, Davis founded the Nancy Davis Foundation, which supports those who have endured trauma due to a prenatal developmental defect during pregnancy and advocates for reproductive justice.

“Donald Trump and anti-abortion extremists want it both ways – they want to ban abortion nationwide, but they don’t want to tell us that’s what they plan to do because they know it’s dangerous and deeply unpopular,” said Veronica Ingham, Senior Campaigns Director for Free & Just. “Exciting and important measures to protect access to abortion care and reproductive freedom are advancing at the state-level, but extremists have made it painfully clear that they want to ban abortion nationwide. This is why we need national protections for reproductive freedom. The stakes are too high.”

If you are interested in speaking with any of the storytellers quoted above, please contact kelly@freeandjust.us. 

Free & Just is committed to fighting for reproductive freedom. Join us in sharing stories, raising voices, and securing our future. 

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Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future.